# Who's left from early TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218 "2014-02-13T03:45:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 25
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/481 "2014-08-25T05:35:08Z")
Dickie Moore was in some early to late 50’s tv after his many movie roles. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2014, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/482 "2014-08-25T10:24:02Z")
Since someone just mentioned the guy in another thread, I can’t help but add that **Angus Lennie** of _The Great Escape_ fame acted on _Armchair Theatre_ in '57 and '58 before doing a TV movie in '59, after which he of course kept acting on television in the '60s and '70s and '80s and '90s and '00s. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2014, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/483 "2014-08-26T11:32:02Z")
Back before **Liselotte Pulver** spent the early 1960s acting alongside Jimmy Cagney in _One, Two, Three_ and earning a Golden Globe nomination in a Bob Hope comedy, she was playing the titular role in a 1956 Joan of Arc TV movie – after acting in another TV movie, and another other TV movie, after her big-screen debut in 1950 with future television personalities ranging from Richard Erdman to Alan Hale Jr. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2014, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/484 "2014-08-27T15:05:22Z")
**Mickey Kuhn** , who was Beau Wilkes in _Gone With The Wind_ long before appearing back alongside Vivienne Leigh in _Streetcar Named Desire_, acted in episode after episode after episode of _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_ before the end of '57. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2014, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/485 "2014-08-28T12:10:57Z")
After big-screen westerns in the '40s, **William Phipps** made his television debut in '51 with _Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok_ before acting on episodes of _Annie Oakley_ and doing the _Indian Agent_ TV movie before spending '56 and '57 and '58 and '59 and '60 and '61 playing Curly Bill Brocius on _The Life And Legend Of Wyatt Earp_. I don’t need to tell you that he racked up plenty of other pre-'58 television credits on everything from _Cheyenne_ to _Wagon Train_ to _Broken Arrow_ to _Colt .45_ to _Trackdown_ to _The Restless Gun_ to _The Cisco Kid_ to _The Adventures of Kit Carson_. I will, though, add that after serving in WWII, he voiced Prince Charming in _Cinderella._ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2014, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/486 "2014-08-29T10:42:20Z")
After acting in dozens of movies during the 1930s and 1940s, **Gene Reynolds** acted on dozens of TV shows before the end of 1957: _I Love Lucy_, _The Lone Ranger_, _Dragnet_, you name it. He then spent the '60s and '70s earning dozens of Emmy nominations as a writer/director/producer, and then kept working in the '80s and '90s and '00s. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2014, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/487 "2014-08-30T06:42:32Z")
After making her movie debut in '47, **Dolores Hart** made her TV debut in '57: acting on _Alfred Hitchcock Presents_ the same year she was appearing alongside Elvis Presley in _Loving You_. She kept at it in '58, acting on _Matinee Theatre_ and _Schlitz Playhouse_ easy as appearing alongside Elvis in _King Creole_. In '59, she was still acting on television easy as earning a Theatre World Award on Broadway. In '60, she was still acting on television and starring in _Where The Boys Are_. And after yet more work on television and in the movies, she’s now – Prioress of the Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis. Recent subject of the Oscar-nominated documentary _God Is The Bigger Elvis_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2014, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/488 "2014-08-31T12:10:13Z")
**George Maharis** picked up a number of TV acting credits before the end of '57, after which you could see him on _The Phil Silvers Show_ in '58, and on _Naked City_ episodes in '59, followed by his Emmy-nominated role on _Route 66_ from '60 to '63. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2014, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/489 "2014-09-01T10:40:18Z")
In '51 and '52 and '53, **Mara Corday** was acting on _The Adventures of Kit Carson_, after which you could see her on _The Colgate Comedy Hour_ in '54, and _The Bob Hope Show_ in '55, and _Combat Sergeant_ in '56, and et cetera. And she kept at it after becoming a Playboy Playmate in '58, still acting on TV in '59 and into the '60s. But never mind that now; instead, note that she was second-billed in _Tarantula_, the movie that’s maybe most famous for giving a small part to young Clint Eastwood; at that, look over her post-'60s credits: _The Gauntlet_ in the '70s, and _Sudden Impact_ in the '80s, and _The Rookie_ in the '90s, and – look, the point is, if Mr. Eastwood is so much as making _Pink Cadillac_, there Ms. Corday will be. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2014, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/490 "2014-09-02T12:14:37Z")
After making her TV debut on _The Mel Tormé Show_, pretty perky **Peggy King** was featured on _The George Gobel Show_ in 1954 and 1955 and 1956 before getting work on _The Jonathan Winters Show_ and _The Bob Hope Show_ and _The Steve Allen Show_ and _The Nat King Cole Show_ and et cetera before the end of 1957. Was performing live in 2013, is set to appear in a documentary in 2015. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2014, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/491 "2014-09-03T10:55:39Z")
After making her big-screen debut with Bob Cummings in '53, **Mary Costa** made her small-screen debut in a TV movie of _A Christmas Carol_ in '54, followed by – well, acting on _The Bob Cummings Show_ in '55, followed by hosting episodes of _Climax!_ before appearing on _The Jack Benny Program_ in '57, followed by providing the voice of Princess Aurora in _Sleeping Beauty_ in '59. She kept at it in the '60s – singing on _The Ed Sullivan Show_, acting in a TV movie with Jeremy Brett, and so on – before earning a Golden Globe nomination in the '70s; she was a commencement speaker in 2012, she made a documentary appearance in 2013, and as far as I can tell she’s still alive and well here in 2014. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2014, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/492 "2014-09-04T10:57:25Z")
**Michael Medwin** did a TV movie in the '40s, acted on TV show after TV show after TV show before the end of '57, and spent the '60s and '70s and '80s on the big screen before returning to TV movies in the '90s – _Alice Through The Looking Glass_, with little Kate Beckinsale – and '00s – _Cinderella_, with big Kathleen Turner. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2014, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/493 "2014-09-05T23:10:08Z")
I see where nonagenarian actor Jack Carter has already been mentioned, but I don’t yet see his octogenarian ex-wife **Paula Stewart** making the list – but before she was acting on _Perry Mason_, or singing on _The Ed Sullivan Show_, or making the rounds on the Jack-Paar-era _Tonight Show_, or whatever, she was making her TV debut in '56. (Alongside young Carol Burnett, as it happens.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/494 "2014-09-06T15:42:09Z")
Since he’s being mentioned in another thread, I’ll note that long before WWII veteran **Norman Lear** hit it big with _All In The Family_ and et cetera, he was busy writing and directing and producing _The Martha Raye Show_ back in '54 and '55, and before that he was writing for – and occasionally appearing on – _The Colgate Comedy Hour_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2014, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/495 "2014-09-07T12:31:35Z")
Any Irving’s mom – and thus, Steven Spielberg’s mother-in-law – **Priscilla Pointer** is still alive long after making her small-screen acting debut in '54, followed by showing up in everything from _Adam-12_ to _Blue Velvet_ to _Carrie_ to _Dallas_ to _ER_ to _Family_ to _Generation_ to _Hemingway_ – with Stacy Keach as Ernest Hemingway! – and so on. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/496 "2014-09-08T22:57:34Z")
After doing movies with John Garfield and Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn in the early 1950s, **Micheline Presle** made her television debut on _The Ed Sullivan Show_ in 1957 before doing more than half-a-dozen TV movies (and _Combat!_) in the 1960s; she was still at it in the 1980s – with _Tales of the Unexpected_ and _Ray Bradbury Theatre_ and et cetera – and was still acting as recently as last year. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/497 "2014-09-09T10:35:35Z")
**Mary Healy** appeared alongside her husband Peter Lind Hayes in _Lux Video Theatre_ and _Make Room For Daddy_ and _The Ed Sullivan Show_ and _Goodyear Playhouse_ and _What’s My Line_ and _Studio One In Hollywood_ and _Perry Como’s Kraft Music Hall_ and _The Jackie Gleason Show_ and _Armstrong Circle Theatre_ and so on, all the way back to _Inside USA With Chevrolet_ in the '40s – all well before (a) the deadline, after which they were of course (b) acting together on _Peter Loves Mary_ in the '60s. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/498 "2014-09-10T13:15:35Z")
Back before Cliff Robertson was earning an Oscar for _Charly_, he was getting the hang of the role in “The Two Worlds Of Charlie Gordon” on _The United States Steel Hour_ in '61 alongside veteran actor **Gerald S. O’Loughlin** , who’d racked up TV and movie credits prior to the OP’s cut-off date when he wasn’t busy acting on Broadway. (Years later, O’Loughlin was still on Broadway: understudy in the role of McMurphy for _One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest_, which was being played by Kirk Douglas, who’d bought the rights, which is how Michael Douglas came to get his first Oscar producing the movie version in the '70s; that’s, like, a matryoshka doll of Oscar trivia.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/499 "2014-09-11T11:00:21Z")
**Margaret Barton** did half-a-dozen big-screen movies in the 1940s before switching to TV movie after TV movie after TV movie after TV movie before the end of '57. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218/500 "2014-09-11T18:53:47Z")
The recent death of Richard Kiel got me looking at the IMDb entries of the great _Twilight Zone_ episode “To Serve Man” and the actress therein [Susan Cummings](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0191966/), who appears to still be alive. Her listed TV credits start in 1952, but along the way she also appeared in the movie _Swamp Women_! Kiel’s acting career started in 1960, so he didn’t qualify for this thread. With his death, Cummings appears to be the last credited player from that episode still alive. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=24) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whos-left-from-early-tv/681218.md?page=26)